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The Cadets and GH history of sexual abuse (news article)


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30 minutes ago, garfield said:

There was a considerable push on these boards and FB months back to DEMAND that DCI take a central role in establishing Best Practice rules for all corps in the activity, and this is exactly why I argued (much to the consternation of some even on this thread) that such a tactic would do more harm than good.  Despite protestations by some here that I was being insensitve to the victims and "...of COURSE..." DCI should develop a central policy, the opposite is actually the correct path - DCI should have a policy for the employees and interns it hires and then it should throw its hands up and claim NO RESPONSIBILITY for the actions or policies, "best" or otherwise, of the individual corps.

If DCI has a central policy, then Hopkins' escapades would land in Indianapolis and cover all the corps and the activity with his stink.  With no central policy to hang liability on, each corps stands on its own and has a chance to not be covered in Hopkins' excrement.

When passions run high on sensitive subjects, it's often hard to think rationally with an unbiased and unjaundest viewpoint.

Now would be a good time to start recognizing and practicing that idea no matter one's viewpoint of the man or the accusations.

it's already going to cover the other corps and the organization with the stink no matter which way it is handled. 

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1 hour ago, Jeff Ream said:

they were eligible under the rules both seasons.

 

and yet MSU gets nothing.

I'm not trying to downplay what happened at MSU, but remember we are talking about Football at PSU and Women's Gymnastics at MSU. Frankly, football is more popular and hence more on the mind of the public. The NCAA could still very well come down hard on the MSU Women's Gymnastics program, especially since the coach was enabler until the day she 'resigned'. The NCAA could give the Women's Gymnastics program the death penalty and it would be deserved. Plus a difference is, as Kamarag pointed out in another post, EVERY MSU alum is angry that part of what Nassar did happened at MSU, angry at the Title IX office for blowing the investigation, angry at the Med School Dean (who just went to jail for being in cahoots with Nassar) for enabling Nassar, and angry at the former President for appearing tone-deaf when she learned about it details (granted she had a legal, fiduciary responsibility to come across this way). One big difference is that when the PSU administration found out about it, they didn't take any action, and hence why the former PSU President got 2 months in jail. MSU's administration (President, Athletic Director), while appearing tone-deaf, acted as soon as they found out last year.

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This sucks. 

For the victims. This sucks. 

For the BOD. This sucks. 

For the organization. This sucks. 

For the activity. This sucks. 

For the community. This sucks. 

For the accused. This sucks. 

This sucks that someone would feel that they can do this to others. This sucks that someone or many people had to go through this heinous act(s). This sucks that adults have to get involved and decide what the next action has to be taken against a peer. This sucks that the drum corps community/activity has to think that actions like this could be extremely detrimental to an activity that already struggles with numbers at times. This sucks that some kids/parents who already have reservations about sending their students off for a summer with strangers now have to deal with this. This sucks that every organization in this activity needs to reevaluate at how they do business. This sucks that there are  background checks that  will never find the sins of others if they have not been found out before . This sucks that there are broken hearts/spirits because of the actions of a man. This sucks that a man of this "caliber" or "position of power" would use this authority as a "man" to do this. This sucks that it will be easy for many people to jump on ship and jump all over the accused and d@mn him. This sucks that this person may or may not recognize his faults, his greed, his actions as being more than inappropriate or that he needs help. This sucks for everyone involved.

To the victims, I am sorry that you have ever had to go through this. This sucks. 

Edited by mvbailey12
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Not shocked nor surprised. More shaking my head and feeling my heart going out to the victims if the claims are true. The way the article was written, the pieces were there for things like this to happen long ago.

 

Anyone a tad familiar with the Sandusky case as I am, and how things went with the Second Mile in regards to what people there within that organization knew,  I found it interesting and perhaps comparable to this situation. The thought there with the Second Mile was that the 2 main people in charge of likely had some inkling of something going on with Sandusky, but they were afraid of losing their six figure salaries and their jobs if they blew the whistle or generated any inquiries- and in Centre County, any job is good let alone one with that level of pay.

 

And yes, many people who are victimized in circumstances like this will never come out and speak. In Sandusky's case, there were defined patterns of grooming, using and discarding victims that were placed on a timeline in the trial. There were holes in that timeline. I asked someone familiar if it was a reasonable and safe assumption to make that there were victims to fill those time gaps. The response was, "yes." It's likely in this situation as well.

 

People who do things like this rely on silence to enable them to continue doing what they do. It's why I'm trying to talk a little about it here on this thread. Any of us who do in a positive way help to make things better and get the light into the dark areas these individuals rely on.

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15 minutes ago, garfield said:

Not legally...

 

But in the real world, yes.

 

Example from the sport of fencing.    A few years back we had a club owner who groomed a 14 year old girl.  Cutting to the chase, all of us who hold a professional membership with the US Fencing Assoc (as I do, as a national level armorer) must be certified via SafeSport...and sexual issues are a major component of that training.

I have to get recertified with an FBI background check every 2 years, or I can't be hired by USFA to work a national event.

 

We just had one coach in Florida get permanently banned from the sport duie to his filming girls in the bathroom secretly.

 

Sadly, it's everywhere, and the metoo movement is causing victims to finally speak out.

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1 hour ago, mingusmonk said:

We could only speculate, but YEA has to communicate something, somehow. They have a camp in a couple of days and the scale of this blow up is well beyond our little digital corners of DCP, Reddit, etc. I am getting texts and calls from people that have not been involved or following the activity for ages. There is no way that every Cadets parent doesn't know of this by sundown. Maybe they wait to have a verbal communication to open the camp. But I doubt they can get away with a "no comment" to the current members and parents.

the current forecast could wipe camp out

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1 hour ago, GUARDLING said:

In this case there are many older alumni who would love to take down Hopkins for various reasons  and wouldn't care what the subject was.

From the article:

The board of directors for Youth Education in the Arts was made aware of several of the women’s stories in January. The women had agreed to share their accounts after being contacted by a group of alums of the organization who had concerns about Hopkins' leadership.
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